Troy

There was a single wrong word im my last statement (I did not bother to rewrite it). I do like the idea of the "power to defy logic!" That is a super power 45 has and it is powerful indeed.

Cynique I'm simply not an all or nothing kind of guy. I can loath Hillary on something and have sympathy on another. I can be critical of Obama on many issues but still be his supporter. When you cast me as someone who is "...all of a sudden you are defending Hillary's honor" you make it appear as if I can't hold more than two thoughts in my head at one time. I love you and your way with words, but I can still disagree with you on many things, right? Cynique, a lack of disputing something does not imply agreement. If could be I just did not know enough or care enough about the issue Pioneer raised to voice an opinion. The popular votes does not mean anything when it comes to how the president is elected. i don't agree with it, but that is the was it is. Just because more people voted to Hillary and Gore does not mean they win the election--that s not how the rules work. Just because you don't recall me saying anything positive about Obama does not mean I have not done it. Don't you recall my, admitted over the top, endorsement of Obama even before he announced his candidacy? Don't you recall your support of Hillary, and my calling you (unfairly) a self-hating negro, for failing to endorse "the Brother?" In hindsight, time has appeared to proven you right. I say you are twisting my words, because you keep putting me in the same box with Pioneer on this issue, you have a position on Obama and you allow for no nuance or subtlety. There is no gray area with you on this issue. Anyone who expresses a critique of Obama that you disagree with is in the same one dimensional box--you are unable to see any difference between Pioneer an myself--we aren't even in the same political party! Obviously we agree on the Democrats needing to get their act together, however we strongly disagree on Obama's role in this. I feel he is part of the problem, you obviously don't. Again, I'm don't understand your reasoning why you think a two-term president bares no blame at all. But again, we'll agree to disagree.

"... wanting to patronizingly tell me how i should react to a word she had no say-so about, and that Oprah does not speak for me." That is exactly the sentiment that I was trying to express Cynique. It was completely patronizing and disingenuous. Ice Cube can accept Bill's apology all day long. It makes no difference to me one way of the other... Cube does not speak for me any more than Oprah speaks for you. Despite what Mr. Cube says, Black people don't "own" the word nigger. Bill Maher demonstrated that quite clearly and ice Cube is still his boy. Words have the power and the meaning we give them, and right now, whites hold this power because they can utter the word and people go apeshit. What single word can Black folks utter that will exert similar power and reaction in the white community? That is right, there isn't one...

Cynique, I made a very simple statement regarding Obama's leadership of the democratic party. He was the president for 8 years--not Hillary, but you put the blame on Hillary, without seeing how inconsistent and unfair that is... If Black people fail to vote for Democratic candidates in all of the midterms of the last 8 years and the last presidential election what is difference does it make whether they leave the party or not? They did not vote for the last Democratic presidential candidate, that says it all. Now if I point out the fact that the majority of Black democrats did not bother to vote for the Democratic presidential candidate, you call that "petulance." You can't substantiate that statement based upon what I wrote. Also, please don't conflate what I write with Pioneer's statements. If you try to understand what we are both writing you will see that the perspective are actually quite different in some regards. Before Obama ran for democratic nomination, I was a registered independent, but I changed to Democrat party (unlike Pioneer) to vote for Obama over Hillary in the primary. I also voted for Obama in both presidential elections. I voted for Bernie in the primary and Hillary in the general. I even contributed to his campaign and attended a rally. I have never done this for a candidate (for any office). I recall give YOU grief for not be supportive of Obama when he first announced his candidacy (I did not forget that). I SUPPORT Obama, arguably more than you. Misconstruing my words is not going to change that fact Surely I can critique the man and still support him. Presidents are not elected by popular vote, it is a waste of time to even bring that up and it does not change the fact Blacks turned out in far less numbers. this presidential election. Actually, gerrymandering is a more significant problem, but here too, the democrats, under Obama's leadership, have failed to do anything about it. The impact of this abject failure to combat the impact of gerrymandered districts will be felt for generations.

I just scanned this thread and did not see you defintion. Nonetheless I'm sure by understanding of the word is sound, and therefore my previous post is sound as well. Right?

Pioneer, Bill's comment did not bother me either. I was surprised by reaction from some. But Bill brings out Ice Cube a man who has made his living with word Nigger. The name of his group is NWA for christ sake (spare be the BS about there being a difference between Nigger and Nigga). The notion that I have to be offended because a comedian uses Nigger in a bad joke is ludicrous. But I live in a place where I hear the word used everyday and maybe I've become desensitized to it. Maybe we all need to become desentized to it. Take away the power of the word and white folks have one less tool to use against us. Cynique, I did not hear about the invitation to from the Senator to come work in his fields. That was actually a much better joke. Yes I would have ignored it, but I suspect Bill had his bosses all over him so he had to do some damage control. Again the apology was sufficent, the faux outrage and staged dressing down was unnecessary and condescending in my opinion. I'd bet most people, like Pioneer and myself (I bet you too), were not outraged or even needed an apology. But you put you finger on it. The expression of outrage was a great way to get attention and having Dyson and Cube put Maher in his "place" was probably great for ratings, and ample contrition to ensure the show would last another season... It is all political correctness, from a man you once touted his political incorrectness.

Hi Alicia, sounds like an interested event. Is this the first one? If not, do you have any photos or videos from the last years event that you can share here or direct me to? Thanks

OK, all I'm saying is that Tupac was one guy. If he never existed do you think anything would be materially different in the Black community?

You may be right @Pioneer1, but I can see someone being offended by what really should be perceived as a compliment. Political correctness has gone too far. because it masks what people really feel. I watch the HBO's Real Time with Bil Maher, recently Maher said, during an interview he was giving with another rich white guy that, "I'm a house nigger." It was a dumb joke which fell flat. However apparently a lot of people where "outraged" by the statement. I was not outraged. Bill was making it plain who he was and I was not surprised. This is the same guy you dated "Superhead." The next show, Bill had Michael Eric Dyson, on his show, in an act of contrition to placate the Black masses and his white liberal audience and maybe keep his job (who knows). To me that make his stupid joke worse because Maher, flaunted his rich white privilege by trotting out a couple of his Negro firends (Dyson and Ice Cube) to chastise him--but not too hard. Basically Bill Maher was rubbing our noses in the fact that he can go around dropping the N-bombs on TV and all he has to do is trot out a couple of his Black friends and now we are supposed to believe he is conscious, as if that was the first time and last tie he'll use the word "nigger." Phulese!

@Mel Hopkins, sometimes I like to play with word choice for fun. "Fornication/Deflowering" are good words. @Delano we are apparently working with different definitions of "omnipotent," or at least a different understanding of what it means. Omnipotence includes the power of suicide. Get it?

Cynique I was keying off your statement, "He always responded to his harshest critic, Cornel West, by asking him to submit an agenda and be specific about what he wanted the presidency to do." West was always crystal clear on the agenda. Obama was the leader of the democratic party. The democratic party has gotten it clock cleaned by the Republicans. If you don't want to give Obama any credit for the failures of the party that is cool, we'll just have to agree to disagree....

Del what is Jay Z's percent ownership of the Brooklyn Nets?

Pioneer Trump's behavior appears to be motivated by ignorance of the issues, self-aggrandisement, lack of civility, greed, and narcissism. I'll take Obama over that any day of the week--shoot I'll take Bush (1 or 2). I understand that some people confuse Trump's characteristics as desirable in a world leader at this time, but this reflects a profound dysfunction in our culture and the way our government operates, not anything positive about Trump. Cynique, I'm not so sure Obama dismissed West because of a lack of agenda. Keep in mind West campaigned with Obama hard--something like 85 trips. I saw one of these campaign stops in Harlem, when the local democrats were still supporting Hillary Clinton. He knew what West was interested in achieving. I also know West had an agenda, both he and Tavis Smiley (think of him what you will), even published some books in the subject the most popular was The Covenant with Black America, Obama jettisoned West early. West became harshly critical once it became obvious that Obama was not going to do any specifically to address the needs of Black people. West was I 'm sure felt betrayed because Obama presented himself differently during the campaign. Perhaps West, indeed many in the Black community were reading into Obama, because of his brown skin characteristics, he simply did not have Obama then when on to align himself with sycophants (like Sharpton) and Ivy League educated elites who were already with the program...his "advisers." So while "Obama creating Trump," as Pioneer suggests, is a stretch in my view; Black America's complete disillusionment with the democratic party made itself abundantly evident at the polls. Some of this blame ,I'm sorry to say, belongs to the Obama presidency.

ATL does have some fine women! Is talking like that, in mixed company, considered sexist today? Anywho, that is the thing that strikes me every time I visit. The city has more than it's share of beautiful Black people.

Woods is largely washed up, Eninem is white, Jordan is retired, Jay is still running around but rather than try to figure out what Del means lets just wait for him to elaborate. You know dude likes to speak in riddles

Pioneer I was was talking about virginity (before marriage) being prized by women as a desirable characteristic for themselves. I heard Emma Fraser say that in a YouTube video recently. I was not referring to a woman's very first time specifically, I was talking about a person's first time with anyone else. Of course a woman's very first time encounter will be the first time with that specific cat (or kitten). While I concede my statements may not have been precise enough to have been crystal clear, it is interesting to see what folks bring on their own, and how a question about super powers leads to one on fornication

Your position on Tupac is not popular Pioneer, but I see your point. I would not necessarily agree that Tupac was the cause of the thing you enumerated he may have been a victim of it was so many others are. Of course his celebrity help magnify the negative aspects of our culture. This is despite songs like deer momma and a few others.... He was a talented brother. But. this is what you get when you do not control our icons or rather when we allow profit driven corporations to decide the characters and the characteristics we uplift. I have not watched it either. I remember there was a time when I would watch ANY Black movie, I guess there are so many options now.

Funny when I wrote different every time, different partners never occurred to me. I was thinking different way with the same partner. When I wrote it seems like the first time is usually the worst or best, I'm not taking from personal experience just the stories I recall hearing from other people like Mel's story. I often hear women related their own deflowering experience as a relatively bad one. I heard there was a time when virginity was prized by women. @Cynique, can you speak to that?

I selling the book Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It by Charlamagne Tha God. I've priced the book less than Amazon--even with the shipping. Lets see how long it takes me to sell it. The book is a NY Times Bestseller. I can only afford to sell the book at this price because I have a promo copy from the publisher. I generally skew away from celebrity books, focusing on actual writers (keep in mind every book I add to the site is added manually), because writers will generally produce more than one book. Why waste resources building content around a guy who may never writer another book... At any rate, lets see how it goes. I'll put an advertisement on the homepage for this experiment. Simon & Schuster send me books, but they don't buy ads so they are getting over on me now But this happened to be the best book I had to run this test case..

It seems the first time with someone is always the worst of the best, or close to it....

So young.... R.I.P.

Hi LaKesa sounds like an interesting book. Do you have a website? If so please post the URL--thanks.

Hi Denise can you name a few of the stores that you like and why. I like Mother Pearl's store, Underground Book (video above) in Sacramento, CA's historic Oak Park. I also like Oakland Marcus Books (see video below). While I often complain about the lack of stores, I also try to remember to celebrate and patronize the great ones we still have.

Thanks easy, different everytime for a lifetime. The first option would become eventually become hell.

Being omnipotent, I could always kill myself an option immortality lacks. Knowing about something and and doing it are completely different. Would you rather know about making love or actually engage in the act?